Device for fixing and unfixing tools for a dental handpiece



1970 E. HOFFMEISTER 5,

DEVICE FOR FIXING AND UNFIXING TOOLS FOR DENTAL HANDPIECE Filed Sept.23, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 8, 1970 E. HOFFMEIEISTER 3,5455084 DEVICEFOR FIXING AND UNFIXING TOOLS FOR A DENTAL HANDPIECE s Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Sept. '25, 1968 Dec? 1 E. HOFFMEISTER 3,545,034

DEVICE FOR FIXING AND UNFIXING TOOLS FOR A DENTAL HANDPIECE Filed Sept.23, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.8

United States Iatent 6 3,545,084 DEVICE FOR FIXING AND UNFIXING TOOLSFOR A DENTAL HANDPIECE Erich Holfmeister, Biberach an der Riss, Germany,as-

signor to Kaltenbach & Voight, Bibcrach an der Riss,

Germany, a company of Germany Filed Sept. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 761,618Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 23, 1967,

Int. oi. A31, 1/08 US. CI. 3226 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adevice which comprises a holding member on a support for the receptionof a guide bearing or dental handpiece sleeve to which a dental tool isto be secured, the hearing or sleeve having a built-in collet chuckrotatable by a driving wheel to secure or release the tool. The holdingmember has a mating drive wheel which is rotatable and. longitudinallydisplaceable for operating the chuck, means being provided on thesupport for restraining displacement of said bearing or sleeve so that atool can be secured or released by appropriate rotation of the matingdrive wheel.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a device for thefixing and unfixing of a tool, such as a burr, in a dental handpiece, orin a guide bearing adapted to be inserted in such a handpiece, andwherein the tool is held by means of a built-in collet chuck.

It is known that tools can be interchanged by manual manipulation byoperating locking elements arranged on the handpiece. The manualoperations required for this are very laborious.

An object of the invention is to provide a device which makes itpossible for a dentist when treating a patient no longer to have toremove a tool from a handpiece in a laborious manner to replace it byanother more suitable tool.

The device according to the invention is characterized by a holdingmember which is arranged on a support and to which there can be attacheda guide bearing, or a handpiece sleeve released from the remainder ofthe handpiece so that a driving wheel of the guide bearing or handpiecesleeve can be engaged with a mating driving wheel mounted forlongitudinal displacement and rotation in the holding member, the matingdriving wheel having a shaft which projects from the free end of theholding member, and the support having an abutment wall for thetool-region end of the handpiece sleeve or guide bearing, and havingalso latching means for preventing rotation of a handpiece sleeve orguide bearing when mounted in the device.

By means of the device according to the invention for the fixing andunfixing of tools, it is possible for a dental nurse or dentist, beforetreating a patient, to prepare a relatively small number of guidebearings or handpiece sleeves which are provided with the most commonlyused tools and which can then be connected to 'ice the remainder of thehandpiece, in known manner, by simply fitting-on and securing by meansof a screwthread or bayonet joint, during treatment of the patient. Inthis way the dentist always has available lubricated, sterilized andchecked handpiece sleeves or guide bearings ready and available with thetool in question. Generally six to eight handpiece sleeves or guidebearings with different tools in each case will be sufiicient.

The holding member may be arranged on the support so as to be upwardlyand downwardly pivotable to facilitate insertion and removal of theguide bearing.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the holdingmember may be constructed as a mandrel on which or into which thehandpiece sleeve or guide bearing is adapted to be applied or insertedas appropriate.

The holding member, constructed as a mandrel, may comprise an axial,forwardly open housing more particularly for the insertion of the guidebearings.

The holding member may also be arranged non-movably on the support andthe spacing between the abutment and the withdrawn mating driving wheelmay be such that the guide bearing can be inserted from above into thesupport.

The latching means may conveniently comprise projections provided on theabutment wall and recesses arranged at the tool-region end of thehandpiece sleeve or guide bearing. This form of embodiment has theadvantage that the recesses arranged at the tool-region end of thehandpiece sleeve or guide bearing may serve as salvia deflectors.

For easier operation of the fixing device, the free end of the shaft ofthe mating driving wheel may be provided with a rotatable knob.

The manipulation of the fixing device may be further facilitated by soarranging the shaft of the mating driving wheel that it can be displacedin the direction towards the abutment in opposition to the action of aspring.

The support may also be provided with a downwardly directed grip tofacilitate the secure holding of the fixing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional viewof a device according to the invention showing a guide bearing to beinserted in the device,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device according to FIG.1 with the guide bearing inserted in the fixed position,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the device according to FIG. 2 from above,

FIG. 4 is a detail view showing the tool-region end of a guide hearingor handpiece sleeve,

FIG. 5 is an internal perspective view showing an abutment of the fixingdevice according to FIGS. 1 to 3,

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a guide bearing with a toolfixed therein,

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of embodimentof the invention with inserted guide bearing,

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a device according tothe invention with a handpiece sleeve inserted, in the fixed position,and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the device according to FIG. 8 from above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the drawing, 1 designates a support which isprovided at one end with a holding member 2. At the opposite end of thesupport 1 is an abutment 4 which is provided with an indentation 5, asshown in FIG. 5.

A driving wheel 7 is mounted by means of a shaft 6 in the holding member2 so as to be rotatable and longitudinally displaceable. The shaft 6 isprovided at its free end with a rotatable knob 8.

In the form of embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the support 1 comprisesside walls 1a. Moreover in this form of embodiment and in the form ofembodiment shown in FIG. 7, the shaft 6 of the driving wheel 7 isadapted to be displaced in a direction towards abutment 4 in oppositionto the action of a coil spring 9 encircling shaft 4. As shown in detailin FIGS. 1 and 5, projections 10 are arranged at both sides of theindentation 5 of the abutment 4.

The devices shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7 are used for the detachableconnection of a tool 13 in a long guide bearing 11 as shown in FIG. 6,while the device according to FIGS. 8 and 9 is suitable for installing atool in handpiece sleeve 12 which is separated from the remainder ofthe, handpiece. The dental tool 13 (a burr in the embodimentsillustrated) is mounted by means of a collet chuck 14 either in theguide bearing 11 as shown in FIG. 6 or in the handpiece sleeve 12 asshown in FIG. 8. The clamping jaws of the collet chuck 14 can be forcedtogether or shifted into the opened position by means of a clamping nut15 adapted to be screwed externally onto the jaws, by appropriaterotational movement. The tool 13 is clamped fast in the forced-togetherposition of the said I aws. 1 As FIG. 4 shows in detail, the tool-regionend of the clamping nut 15 is formed with recesses 16.

In the embodiment according to FIGS. 8 and 9 the support 1 has adownwardly directed grip 21.

The driving wheel of the guide bearing 11 or of the handpiece sleeve 12,is designated by numeral 17 and is mounted for rotation jointly with thecollet chuck 14.

The device according to the present invention is operated as follows:

To secure the tool 13 in guide bearing 11, the tool is inserted in theopen collect chuck. Then the guide gearbearing 11 is inserted with itsdrive-side end into the housing 18 of the holding member 2, the drivingwheel 17 engaging with the mating driving wheel 7. Then the holdingmember 2, hitherto swung upwardly as shown in FIG. 1, is swung down withthe guide bearing 11 into the horizontal position shown in FIG. 2. Inthe embodiment according to FIG. 7, the guide bearing 11 is simplyplaced in the support 1 from above. By axially pressing the rotatableknob 8, the shaft 6 is then moved, in opposition to the action of thespring 9, in the direction towards the abutment 4 until the tool-regionend, i.e. the face of the clamping nut 15 abuts against the abutment 4,the tool 13 having previously entered the indentation 5 during theswinging-down movement in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 1 or duringplacement of the bearing 11 into the support in the case of FIG. 7. Whenthe rotatable knob 8 is slightly turned by an appropriate extent as maybe neceseary while the knob is also being pressed, the recesses 16 ofthe clamping nut 15 come into engagement with projections 10 of theabutment 4. By then turning the rotatable knob 8, the collet chuck isrotated in the clamping nut to force the jaws of the collect chuck 14together, until the tool 13 is securely clamped in the jaws. Thereafter,the holding member is disengaged from the abutment in the form ofembodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 3 by being pivoted upwards, so thatthe guide bearing 11 4 with the fully fixed tool 13 can be removed. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 7, the guide bearing 11 with tool 13 fixedtherein is removed by releasing knob 8 which is then retracted by spring9 to release bearing 11 which may then be manually removed.

Manipulation of the embodiment according to FIGS. 8 and 9 can be carriedout in a manner similar to that described above with reference to theembodiments of FIGS. 1 and 7. However, in the case of the embodiment ofFIG. 8, the holding member 2 need not be of hollow construction and onthe contrary, since the hand-piece sleeve 12 itself has an appropriatecavity 19, the member 2 can be constructed as a solid, rotatable mandrelso that the handpiece sleeve 12 can be fitted onto the holding member 2until the driving wheel 17 engages with the mating driving wheel 7.Otherwise the method of operation corresponds to that already describedin connection with FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7. Namely, after the recesses 16 innut 15 are engaged by projections 10, the knob 8 is turned to clamp thejaws of the chuck 14 on the tool 13 and thereby lock the latter in thesleeve 12. Then the sleeve 12 with the tool 13 secured therein isremoved from the holder 2.

The finished guide bearing 11 can be fixed in a handpiece in a suitablemanner by tightening a screw ring or the like in the point of handpiece.The fixing of the handpiece sleeve 12 on the handpiece is elfected bylocking an appropriate bayonet dog or the like on the handpiece (notshown) in a bayonet slot 20 on sleeve 1.2.

In the aforedescribed embodiments, a supply hose for supplying a spraymay be provided, and such supply hose can easily be fitted-on in knownmanner.

From the above it is seen that there has been provided, the combinationof a support member (guide bearing 11 or sleeve 12) for a dental tool13, and a device for securing and releasing the tool in the supportmember, the latter device comprising holding means constituted bysupport 1 and holder 2 for receiving the support member, and means, inthe form of drive wheel 7 and abutment wall 4 (with projections 10thereon) for acting on collet lease such jaws.

What is claimed:

1. In combination, a support member including a chuck for holding adental tool, said chuck having jaws chuck 14 to clamp the jaws thereofon the tool or to refor clamping the tool, a clamping nut threadablyengaged on the chuck in the region of the jaws for clamping the jaws onthe tool, a holder for receiving said support member and including arotatable drive wheel, said support member including a wheel coupled tothe chuck for rotating the same and engageable by the drive wheel to bedriven in rotation thereby, and abutment means on said holder forengaging the clamping nut to hold the same against rotation such that byturning the drive wheel and thereby also the chuck, the jaws can beclamped or unclamped on the tool depending on the direction of rotation.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said drive wheel isaxially displaceable and in a first position is spaced from the wheel onthe support member whereas in a second axially displaced position thedrive wheel is engaged with the wheel on the support member, saidabutment means including an abutment wall for limiting displacement ofthe clamping nut and thereby of the support member and driving wheel.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2 wherein said abutment meansincludes latching means on said wall for engaging the clamping nut tohold the same fixed in rotation.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said holder comprises afixable support and a pivotable member on said support, said drive wheelbeing mounted in said pivotable member, said abutment means beingmounted on said fixable support, said pivotable member being pivotableto a raised position for insertion and removal of the support memberwith tool, and to a lowered position in which the tool is secured orreleased from the support member.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said holder comprises afixable support on which said drive wheel and abutment means aremounted, said fixable support being constituted as a mandrel to enablesaid support member and tool to be engaged therewith.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 5 wherein said support member isfreely insertable or removable from the fixable support.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 5 wherein said support member isin the form of a sleeve which can be fitted on said fixable support.

8. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said ment means ismounted, and a member which supports the drive wheel for axial androtatable movement, said drive wheel including a shaft extendingexternally of the holder for being manually operated to displace androtate the drive wheel.

9. The combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support member hasopposite ends, said drive wheel being at one end and the clamping nut atthe other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,333,320 8/1967 Black 32-27Xholder comprises a fixable support on which said abut- 15 ROBERTPESHOCK, Primary E min

